Another new starting lineup

Ed Tapscott continues to searching for answers and the most recent one he has come up with is making a change at point guard. A game after he moved Andray Blatche from the bench to starting center, he will insert Mike James into the lineup at point guard and return Juan Dixon to the bench.

SEE RELATED:

With James now more comfortable with the Wizards’ schemes, and with the Washington now lacking some scoring off the bench now that Blatche is a starter, Tapscott did some research and found that James has produced better over the course of his career as a starter. And he believes Dixon is more comfortable coming off the bench as an attacking reliever.

So now, James — acquired last week from New Orleans — will get his chance. Tap has told him to remain aggressive, but that his first responsibility is getting forwards Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler, and that will in turn open things up for him.

Dixon and Nick Young worked well together as a backup guard combo earlier this season, and the hope is that that punch can be rediscovered.

Etan Thomas met the team up here in Detroit yesterday, but will be inactive since he didn’t practice yesterday. His heart is fine, as expected, and the checkup which he received in Minnesota yesterday was just routine and the results were all negative for any further heart complications.